


Magic and the Mad Man

by asdlfkjsnalfksndfmsn, I_have_a_Mycroft_of_my_very_own



Category: Doctor Who, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Gen, Kid Loki, guest appearances by the worlds and characters of Harry Potter and Stargate
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-04-26
Updated: 2012-09-18
Packaged: 2018-01-01 19:20:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1047630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asdlfkjsnalfksndfmsn/pseuds/asdlfkjsnalfksndfmsn, https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_have_a_Mycroft_of_my_very_own/pseuds/I_have_a_Mycroft_of_my_very_own
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Loki doesn't know quite what to think when a big blue box with the words Police Public Call Box written on the top appears in his bedroom and a gangly mad man steps out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Meeting the Mad Man

**Author's Note:**

> First half is written by Mycroft and the second half is written by Arya.

He jumped around the TARDIS, a grin on his face as he pulled levers, clicked buttons, and ran around the console like a maniac, and it was to be expected though, considering he was, at this moment, flying around in an Asteroid Field just for kicks.

"I just met Tolkien and took him to Middle Earth! Tolkien! Middle Earth! Oh, does that mean I was an important part of the making of the Lord of the Rings? Ahahaha! I like that!" he grinned widely. "You know I once met the King of…" he stopped talking abruptly and looked around at his silent console room in his empty TARDIS. A pained and alone look crossed his face and he sighed, body completely freezing, only for him to yelp and jump when something in his pocket burned. He scowled, hand digging in his pocket for the Psychic Paper. "Aha!" he exclaimed with a grin when he had found it, and an eyebrow rose on his face as he read the scribbles appearing.

_I'm so alone. I hate it here. Why can't I be more like Thor? Why can't anyone be more like me? Why is no one proud of me, ever? I'm so alone. I wish I could just get away from here, for a day, for a week, a month, forever. I don't care! I just hate it here! I hate it! I hate it!_

The Doctor frowned at the paper in his hand. There was a child somewhere in the universe so unhappy they'd managed to reach him, the most unhappy, happy man in the universe. He sighed, putting the paper back in his pocket and grabbed hold of a lever. "Well, geronimo, I suppose…" he said, pulling the lever and getting thrown ungracefully around the room, a grin on his face as he was.

The TARDIS landed with a crash and he scowled. "How come River flies you so smoothly? It's really, really mean!" he mumbled as he picked himself up off the floor. He gave the now whistling TARDIS console a look before heading outside and freezing. He found himself in a bedroom, with a bed in the corner against the wall, a chest of draws at the food of the bed, a desk along the opposite wall with a few lit candles on it, an overflowing bookcase in another corner of the room and two sets of double doors –one, the Doctor assumed, leading out into the hall while the other leading into the bathroom or the wardrobe- and books and loose papers littering the entire room. The Doctor grinned. "Someone is quite the brainbox…" he said, picking up one of the books and flipping it over so he could see the title.  _Spells for Master Sorcerers_ it read, and the Doctor frowned, opening the book, on the first page, in a spidery writing he read:

' _This book belongs to Loki Odinson.'_

The Doctor's eyebrows rose at that and he cocked his head in thought.  _Loki Odinson? Loki Odinson! Come on! Come on!_  he thought, smacking himself on the head as if it would encourage his mind to remember.  _Loki Odinso- NO! No, really? Ohh, I shouldn't be here… no really?_  he thought. One part of him went crazy, informing him he should get back in the TARDIS and get as far away from here as he could but the other part… the other part wanted to stay and look around and at least try to help the poor, depressed little boy. He 'hmm'd' when he saw another lot of spidery writing along the bottom of the first page, a small smile spread across his face when he read:

' _Thor, I swear to father, if your friends even so much as set a finger on this book, I will turn them to dust!'_

He heard movement to his left and spun, find a pair of bright green eyes staring at him in slight fear and shock. He smiled.

"Hello! Just dropping in for a visit! You seem to have called me…" the Doctor said, stepping closer, he didn't miss the sharp intake of breath and the way the eyes went wide in terror. The Doctor stopped with a frown and held up his hands. "Okay… fine, it's okay. I'm not going to hurt you or anything. I'm the Doctor." He said, as if that explained everything, he laughed when there was a hint of disbelief and amusement in the green eyes.

"Is that meant to mean something to me, Mad Man?" the voice asked, it was clear, soft and unwavering. The Doctor cocks his head to the side.

"Yes! What's a person without their name? Although… a rose by any other name would smell as sweet… but that's not the point! I know your father, Loki. I helped him create the Bifrost, and if I had known he was going to use it to…" the Doctor trailed off, a glower adorning his face. Loki, for that was indeed who the boy was, cowered away. The Doctor sighed, realizing he was scaring the boy. "Sorry, sorry! Forget I said that!" he said, looking around once more, then his eyebrows drew together. "Why aren't you in bed, Loki? It's late," he questioned and Loki snapped his fingers, a ball of light appearing in the middle of the room to illuminate it. Loki stepped forward, away from the wall.

"I do not have time for sleep, Mad Man. I have spells, enchantments and oh so, so, so many things to learn!" he admitted, before his eyes went wide. "You! You distracted me!" he scowled at the Doctor before heading over to the desk and sitting himself down. He snapped his fingers and the book the Doctor still held, vanished from his hands to appear in Loki's, the Doctor blinked.

"Not very talkative are you?" the Doctor asked with a frown, then his eyes lit up and he grinned. "Ohh! Come on! I have something to show you! It's time to live a little!" he exclaimed, dashing back into the TARDIS, the door closing behind him. Loki frowned at the TARDIS, and then looked around the room and the books then back at the blue box sitting by his door.

"Mad Man… that box looks like it's hardly got enough room for one person I'm not…" he stopped talking when he felt it, an energy form so large and so old, so strong that Loki was surprised he hadn't felt it before. "What is that thing?" he asked, stepping forward, he eyed the sign on the door with a frown. "Mad Man, the sign on the door clearly says 'Pull to Open', do you enjoy ignoring rules or can you simply not read very well?" he said with a smirk before pulling the door open and stepping inside. It would be a moment he would regret, love and remember for the rest of his life.

"Mad Man…?" he trailed off when he saw the inside of the box. He had been expecting to see the strange man leaning against the back wall of the box, grinning back at him, clearly pleased with his little joke, but instead he saw much, much more. Oh, so much more. Loki took a step into the box, staring wide eyed at the inside. A short set of stairs led up to a platform where the Doctor was leaning against some sort of contraption covered in buttons and switches.  _It's so big…._ "It's….."

"Bigger on the inside, yes!" the Doctor grinned widely, gesturing to the walls. Loki backed out of the box, looking at it curiously and attempting to wrap his mind around how something so big could fit inside something so small. In all of his fifty-six years and six years of studying magic, he had not heard of nor come across a spell that would allow him to put what looked like the equivalent to the entirety of Asgard's palace into a box. Expand a container to a point, yes, but fit an entire building inside of a box? Definitely not.

_And then there's that strange energy._ Loki touched the side of the box and he felt the strength of the energy form increase.  _It almost feels as if… it's alive._

"Don't spend too long out there, Loki, there are many places and times to go!" he heard the Doctor call from inside the box.

"Mad Man?" Loki asked, stepping back inside the box and slowly walking up the steps, now looking curiously at all the at the contraption the Doctor was still leaning against. "What is this box?"

"This, my young friend, is a TARDIS!" the Doctor said, stroking a hand lovingly down a string of buttons.

"And a TARDIS is….?" Loki asked, knowing that there was more to it than just a name and a rather odd name at that.

"TARDIS stands for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space. It can take you anywhere at any point in time! We could see the Earth, or Midgard as you call it, in another two thousand years, or we could go to the planet Venice, or even a planet called Raxacoricofallapatorious."

"For some reason I doubt that the last one is a real planet," Loki said skeptically. He did have to admit though, it was a fairly ingenious name.

"Raxacoricofallapatorious? Of course it's a real planet! I've met quite a few Raxacoricofallapatorians, actually!"

Loki raised his eyebrows, but said nothing more for several minutes, watching amused when the Doctor started almost literally bouncing around the platform, pressing a few buttons before staring up at a screen above his head. So this was a time machine, he thought. A few of the sorcerers on Asgard talked about trying to invent a spell that would enable them to travel through time, but they had yet to discover one. But he couldn't help but wonder, what if….

"You can go anyplace, anywhere in time?" Loki asked.

"Anyplace, anytime," the Doctor said, a wide grin on his face and looking as if he were itching for a new adventure. "Where would you like to start?"

"Could you show me Asgard in the future?" he asked hesitantly, unsure if that was an appropriate place to want to go. At his words, the grin fell from the Doctor's face and Loki took a step backwards, realizing that asking to see the future of his realm, and his own future, was not the thing to ask. "I'm sorry…. I didn't mean…."

The Doctor came around to where Loki was standing and knelt down so he was at eye level with him. "It's alright, Loki. There are rules about time travel that I didn't explain and perhaps I should have. It is not a wise idea to travel into your own future or past. You may end up changing things that were never meant to be changed."  _And seeing things that you're not meant to see,_  he added in his mind. "Now come on, there are plenty of places to go and it would really be rather impossible to choose just one… well, not impossible, but rather hard to, so let's let the TARDIS pick a random place, shall we?" he asked, springing to his feet and rushing to change a few settings. "Oh! And by the way, you might want to hold onto something because it's going to be a bouncy ride!"

Loki immediately heeded his warning and grabbed onto one of the handrails that went around the platform. There was a jolt and Mad Man was thrown backwards, crashing into the handrail next to Loki. He grinned at him and grabbed onto the rail, clearly enjoying this as if it was normal.

"Mad Man?" Loki asked. "I have one more question…. what's your name?"

Mad Man grinned widely. "I'm the Doctor!


	2. Names and Knowledge

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First half written by Mycroft and second half written by Arya.

"I mean…" Loki said, cutting off to grip tighter to the handrail as he was thrown around by the movement of the TARDIS. "I meant, what is your proper name? People can't just call you 'The Doctor'" he said, trying to keep his balance and trying not to let go. The Doctor just grinned.

"Sure they can, for that is actually my name. Plus I tend to forget my name, so it helps when people constantly yell it at you. But you seem to be doing fine calling me 'Mad Man' though…" He stated with a pause. "I like it," he admitted after a moment and winked at Loki as the TARDIS threatened to throw him across the room. The turbulence got so bad Loki had to use a spell to, in a way, glue his hands to the rails. The Doctor laughed. "Oh now that is cheating!" he exclaimed with a smile, Loki smirked and shrugged his shoulders.

"That's what I do best, Mad Man," he said, the Doctor beamed affectionately at the boy.

"I think your companion name should be 'The Trickster'," he said, as the TARDIS landed with a thump. Loki looked at him questioningly and the Doctor sighed. "It's not actually a real thing, you know, but my companions always seem to gain themselves names… 'The Captain, The Bad Wolf, the Soldier, the Girl in the Fire Place and the Doctor Donna!'" he stopped for a moment and Loki looked at him curiously. The Doctor's mind was in turmoil, the wounds in his hearts left by Donna's absence were still too raw. Shrugging he smiled and went on. "And more recently I had 'The Last Centurion and his wife, The Girl Who Waited'. So, you see, Loki Odinson, eventually you'll end up with a companion name as well, and I think it's going to be 'The Trickster' but come on!  _Geronimo!_ " the Doctor shouted suddenly and ran out the door, the little boy from Asgard following behind.

The Doctor stood frozen just outside the door. He had clenched his eyes shut and was holding his arms out slightly, enough to stop Loki from fully leaving the TARDIS.

"Mad Man, what's wrong?" Loki whispered, peeking around the Doctor. The Doctor remained frozen, but one eye peeked open just a little bit to see a snake coming towards them.

"Loki, get back in the TARDIS and close your eyes!" he said softly but Loki had already seen the snake and was limboing under the Doctor's arm to approach it. The Doctor's eyes flew open and he tried to grab Loki's cape. "No, Loki! Don't look at its eyes! It will kill you. What are you doing?" Loki waved an arm at the Doctor and grinned at the giant snake, slowly stepping forward with one hand raised.

"Hello, you beautiful creature." He cooed, gently patting the snake on the head, the Doctor watched carefully, avoiding looking directly at the Basilisk's eyes, not knowing how it would affect him, or if it even would.

"Loki! What are you doing?" he asked with a frown. Loki shushed him with a wave and continued patting the giant snake's head. The Doctor just watched in confusion before he remembered that this little boy would one day grow up to be the father of the World Serpent Jörmungandr.  _Oh… I suppose it makes sense why he loves Jörmungandr so much…_

"Oh you poor thing, you've been alone for so long. There, there, such a beautiful creature. I used to have a snake like you once, her name was Akasha and she used to live below the Palace. Father sent her away when he discovered her… I do hope she's alright…" Loki whispered, continuing to pat and stroke the snake affectionately. Then he took another step forward and shocked the Doctor by hugging the snake's head and smiling. "I will come back and visit you one day, I hope," he said, letting the snake go and stepping back. "Go on, friend, you've been out in the open for too long, someone might have noticed you…" he said. The snake hissed something at him before slithering off down a side corridor. Loki grinned as he turned to the Doctor. "C'mon, Mad Man, are we going or not?" he asked, walking away. The Doctor could only blink in dumb shock before he ran to catch up.

"Oh you're a special one, you are," he said grinning. "Just a little boy and able to talk to a basilisk and look it in the eye without it killing you. Oh yes, a special one indeed." Loki didn't miss the spring in his step and he couldn't help but laugh.

"If you know how to control a basilisk, you can stop its look from killing you. Plus… being a god helps too…" he said smiling widely. The grin slipped as he remembered something. "Akasha nearly killed Thor once. We were play fighting and Thor shoved me just a bit too hard and Akasha didn't like it and she came up out of the pipes and went to strike but I got in the way and she bit me instead. Thor went running for father and he got angry when he learned I'd been keeping a deadly snake in the Palace. But of course, he made sure I wasn't going to die or anything and then he sent her away, I didn't get to say goodbye…" he scowled at the floor and picked up his pace.

The Doctor sighed and looked after the boy.  _I'm afraid that's going to happen often in your life, Loki Laufeyson, I just hope you'll be able to move on from it,_ he thought quietly.  _If not, you're never going to be at peace._

Loki wandered down the stone corridor, the Doctor a bit ahead of him literally bouncing off the walls as he pointed his strange tool with a green light on the end at everything that was even slightly unnatural. They were in a castle, that much he could tell from a quick glance out the window and spotting a tower, seeming to be much like the ones he had heard people lived in on Midgard.  _The palace back home is definitely warmer though,_ he thought as he drew his cape around himself when a cold breeze brushed past him and he briefly wondered what time of year they had landed in.

"Ooh, Loki, come and look at these!" Loki looked over to the Doctor to find him poking his tool at a painting. "Oh, this is amazing! I wonder how I managed to not get a good look at these the last time I was here…. No wait, it was Christmas on Earth again, wasn't it…. that didn't give me enough time to go poking around here much."

Loki looked at the Doctor curiously, confused a bit by his ramblings.  _What's so bad about Christmas on Midgard?_ He shrugged to himself and looked at the painting the Doctor was looking at before jumping backwards a foot. Unlike the paintings he had seen in Asgard and even unlike the ones he had been shown from Midgard, this one was moving. The people in it were moving around, walking around the painting and seemingly out of it. One even waved at him. His initial shock recovered from, Loki leaned closer to the painting, examining it. It was clear that some sort of magic was animating the paintings.  _Come to think of it, there's a lot of magic in this castle._

"Now, I wonder if they talk. If they move around, there's no reason why they shouldn't be able to talk," the Doctor was muttering, now having moved on to another painting and poking at that one. Loki followed him to find a painting of a rather stiff looking man dressed all in black formal wear, or what appeared to be formal wear. Loki couldn't be sure since he had no idea what formal wear would look like in this world.

"Well, of course I can talk! Now stop shoving that glowing wand of yours into my paint!" a voice coming from the painting snapped as the man turned to look at the pair. Where Loki had jumped at the previous painting moving, for some reason this one talking didn't surprise him. As the Doctor had said, if it could move, why not talk as well. The Doctor however leapt a foot in the air before staring at the painting in shock. Loki snickered quietly to himself.

"So you  _can_ talk!" the Doctor said excitedly. "I wonder why the other one didn't…."

"Oh  _them?"_ the man in the painting asked nodding his head in the direction of the painting the Doctor had previously been looking at. "Well, of course they don't talk. Too stuck up to talk to anybody other than each other, if you ask me. Now if you'll excuse me, I was busy drinking my tea before you so rudely interrupted with that infernal poking."

"Oh yes, so sorry to bother you. I was just curious," the Doctor explained, but the man appeared to be ignoring him now and was contentedly sipping his tea.

Loki raised his eyebrows at the painting's explanation for why the people in other one hadn't spoken. If he were to say which was more stuck up upon just glancing at the two paintings, he would have said that the man they had just been talking to would win.

"Mad Man?" Loki asked as they set off to explore more of the castle. "You wouldn't happen to know where we are, would you? You mentioned having been here before."

"Well, that depends upon what you mean by where we are. Where we are in this castle? I haven't the slightest idea! Where we are in general, however-"

"Is Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

Loki whipped around, looking first to the walls and the paintings lining them before his eyes fell on a rather stiff looking older woman wearing dark green robes and a pointed hat. Loki took a step back, but the Doctor bounced towards the woman, seemingly knowing her.

"Oh, hello, Professor! It's been a while hasn't it… quite a while, actually…."

"Have we…. met?" the woman asked and Loki spotted her right hand moving slightly to her left sleeve, up which he saw a what looked like a stick of wood.

"Mad Man…." he started, but stopped when the Doctor didn't look surprised that the woman didn't recognize him.

"Oh, oh! The last time you saw me I was a bit shorter, wore a cricket uniform, and a celery stalk! I was blond that time too, wasn't I? And I think it was about…. what year is it?"

A look of recognition dawned on the woman's face. "Doctor?"

"That's me!" the Doctor said grinning cheerfully. "I changed my face…. a couple times actually, but it's still me! Oh!" Loki felt the Doctor's hand land on his shoulder. "And this is Loki Odinson. Loki, this is Professor McGonagall."

"It's nice to meet you, Professor," Loki said respectfully.  _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry…. I wonder if they could teach me any magic that I couldn't learn back home._ "You say that this is a school of witchcraft and wizardry; could I look at some of your spellbooks while I'm here?"

Professor McGonagall nodded. "I don't see the harm in that, but you'll find that they're hardly much use without a wand."

_A wand? Well that explains the stick up her sleeve._ "I don't use a wand, Professor. I've never needed one."

The professor looked at him with a lot more interest, Loki noted. "Wandless magic is rare," she said musingly, "and usually only found in house elves, but I suppose that seeing as you're from another world or planet, it makes sense. I'll take you to the library."

Professor McGonagall set off at a brisk walk, leaving Loki and the Doctor to follow her.

"So Doctor, what brings you back here again?" McGonagall asked as they walked down what seemed like their tenth set of stairs. They had passed several of what appeared to be students wearing black robes and multicolored ties on their way, many of them looking at Loki and the Doctor curiously. Loki supposed that it wasn't odd considering that their apparel made them stand out like a sore thumb among the black robed students…. and the fact that he was several years younger in appearance than most of the students.

"Oh, nothing in particular. I was just bringing Loki here on an adventure and this is where the TARDIS decided to take us." The Doctor paused for a second. "By the way, what year  _is_ it? Are the Marauders still running around here?"

The professor pursed her lips. "It is 1992 and the 'Marauders' left Hogwarts fifteen years ago."

The Doctor looked slightly disappointed by this news. "Oh, I should have come back a few years earlier…. they were always a fun group of students! Off to live their lives now, I suppose though…."

"Indeed," Professor McGonagall said shortly.

_She's hiding something,_ Loki immediately thought. As a notable liar himself, he could spot it easily through her short answer, but he didn't question it.

"Oh well, how've things at Hogwarts been then? Obviously no werewolves on the loose this time, but in a castle of magic, things tend to happen…."

Loki looked up curiously to find the professor looking back at him. He sighed. He knew the look. It was the look he had be given by his father on many occasions when he was apparently deemed too young to know certain information. But these were mortals and he was far older than many of them. "Professor, I am over five decades old. I'm sure that anything you want to say can be said in front of me."

Professor McGonagall stopped walking and her eyebrows shot up when he mentioned his age. Loki couldn't help of laugh quietly to himself. He should tell mortals his age more often. The reactions could get rather amusing. The professor stared at him for a few more seconds before starting towards the library again.

"There has been a problem here at Hogwarts recently. Something or someone has been petrifying students. The effect will not be permanent, but with the students in danger, the school could very well close."

_The basilisk._ The teacher obviously didn't know that it was the basilisk he and the Doctor had seen not too long ago that was causing the students to be petrified, but he did. Of course, the students couldn't have looked into it's eyes directly or else they would have died, but a reflection would petrify them. If the professor, or any other teachers the school had, found out it was the basilisk, they would hunt it down and kill it.  _Such a beautiful creature… for it to be hunted down like an animal…_ No, he would not tell the professor or even the Doctor. The Doctor  _did_ seem to have a fascination for the basilisk when he had seen it, but…  _I just can't be sure._

Professor McGonagall announcing that they had arrived at the library made Loki look up just in time to stop himself from running straight into the Doctor. He found himself in front of a pair of double doors which the professor pushed open to reveal shelves upon shelves of books as far as he could see.

"Charms are to the left, spells and enchantments straight ahead, and curses are on the right. And since I suppose you'd be interested, advanced magic is in the back in the restricted section," Professor McGonagall said, gesturing to each section as she mentioned it.

_Now, I wonder…. charms, spells, or curses._ He stood in indecision for only a moment before heading towards the section for curses. He would have to get a look at the restricted section later, but for now, and for the number of books, he would start there.


	3. Oh Death, Spare Me Over Another

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First half written by Arya this time with the second half written by Mycroft.

"He's an interesting young boy," Professor McGonagall commented as Loki ran off to search through the spellbooks. "When you said his name was Loki, did you mean the Norse god Loki?"

"The one and only! Well, technically there is another one, but that's an incredibly long story," the Doctor said as he bent over to pick up a spellbook from a desk and flipped through a few pages. His eyes skimmed the pages, but in his mind he was mulling over whether he should say anything about the basilisk. He knew that it was responsible for the attacks on the students and it wasn't hard to guess that Loki knew as well.  _But…. messing up the continuity of the story would probably_ not _be a good idea._

He snapped shut the book and turned on his heel, coat flapping, to face Professor McGonagall. "You know that problem of yours with students being petrified?"

"You can help?" the professor asked.

"Well…. sort of… indirectly… I mean, there are several fixed points in time running around in your timeline, so I can't do much…. but don't worry, give it a few weeks and the problem will be solved!"

_Come on…_ the Doctor thought as he watched the professors eyebrow raise in skepticism.  _If I tell you what's going on it could rip a hole in the space-time continuum and things did_ not _go well the last time that happened._ Professor McGonagall's eyebrow lowered again as she nodded in acceptance of this information.

"I expect that I'll have to trust you on that then, Doctor."

"It didn't turn out so badly the last time you did that," the Doctor said, shrugging. "By the way though, do you know where I could find Hermione Granger? There's something I need to tell her. Future stuff, you know."

"Her afternoon classes finished about half an hour ago so she should be in here somewhere. I believe that Professor Flitwick assigned them an essay today, so she might be in the Charms section."

"I'll be off to search the Charms section then!" The Doctor set off into the library before turning around again to face McGonagall. "It was very good seeing you again, Professor."

"And you, Doctor," she replied before turning and sweeping out of the library.

_Ah, good old Professor McGonagall…. as tart as always. Now where's Hermione…._ the Doctor wondered and he wandered through the shelves, peering down each aisle. It wasn't until he had reached the border between the Charms section and that for Spells that he spotted the bushy haired girl sitting at a table with at least a dozen books scattered across it.

"Hello," he said when he reached her table.

Hermione looked up from her reading and looked at him curiously. "Hello…. can I help you with something?"

"Yes, I was looking for some information on basilisks and Professor McGonagall said that you would know where to look." Well, that technically wasn't true, but the Doctor suspected that Hermione would be more likely to help him if he was recommended to her from a teacher.

"I'll be back in a minute," the young witch said, standing up from her chair and walking towards the back of the library. While the Doctor waited, he looked over the books she was reading, and then his eyes fell on her unfinished essay for Charms.

"I couldn't hurt to take a look…" he muttered to himself as he picked up the parchment.  _Well, it's no wonder she's considered the brightest witch of her age,_ he thought as he skimmed through her essay, which was a highly detailed account of the discovery of the hover charm. He set the essay down as the young witch returned with a hefty, leather-bound volume.

"The information on basilisks should be in here," she said as she set it down on the table among the other books and flipped it open to the table of contents. She glanced at her moved parchment and then back at the Doctor. "Are you a new teacher here?"

"Me? No, just visiting! By the way, your essay really is very good."

Hermione smiled. "Thank you. I hope Professor Flitwick will like it though…" She turned back to the book and ran a finger down the list of chapters before flipping to the middle of the book. "Here we go, basilisks."

The Doctor stood up and moved to stand behind Hermione's shoulder as she began to read the entry.

_Of the many fearsome beasts and monsters that roam our land, there is none more curious or more deadly than the Basilisk, known also as the King of Serpents. This snake, which may reach gigantic size and live many hundreds of years, is born from a chicken's egg, hatched beneath a toad. Its methods of killing are most wondrous, for aside from its deadly and venomous fangs, the Basilisk has a murderous stare, and all who are fixed with the beam of its eye shall suffer instant death. Spiders flee before the Basilisk, for it is their mortal enemy…._

Hermione trailed off, no longer reading out loud but her eyes scanned the page, reading the rest of the section on basilisks. The Doctor grinned to himself.  _Mission accomplished._ Hermione must not have noticed when he moved away to find Loki as she didn't even look up from the book.

Loki had just found a book on entitled  _Elemental Curses,_ and was looking through the curses that dealt with ice when he felt a tap on his shoulder. Looking up he saw the Doctor standing behind him.

"Time to go back to the TARDIS," he said, looking rather apologetic.

Loki nodded, replacing his book in the shelf he had removed it from before standing up from his seat on the ground and following the Doctor out of the library. "Are you taking me back to Asgard?" Loki asked.  _Please,_ he thought to himself,  _I don't want to go back to Asgard yet…._

"Back?" The Doctor looked down at Loki. "Not quite yet, Trickster. There are places to go, people to see, and the whole universe to explore!"

Loki smiled. "Where are we going next then, Mad Man? Or are we going to go somewhere randomly again?"

"Oh, I think you'll like the place I'm thinking we should go next! We're going to go the the planet, Gaia!" They had reached the TARDIS now and the Doctor opened up the door and bounded inside, Loki following.

"What's… Gaia?" Loki asked curiously, taking his place by one of the rails, ready to grab onto it once the TARDIS took off.

"Gaia is the home of the Nox and the Fenri! It's mostly a forest world and a place where things tend to… disappear." The Doctor grinned at Loki over the TARDIS console as he pressed a few more buttons before pulling a lever. Loki quickly did a spell to keep his hands glued to the railing he was holding onto as the TARDIS started to shake, just as it had before. The Doctor bounced over and grabbed onto a rail beside him. "You'll like the Nox too, I think," The Doctor said as he wrapped an arm around the rail to keep from flying to the other end of the TARDIS. "They're supposed to be some of the most intelligent beings in the universe."

Loki grinned widely and had to use all his control to not bounce in excitement. There was a small thud as the TARDIS landed and Loki took a moment to release the spell on his hands and to re-find his balance.

"I really don't think she's meant to fly like that, Mad Man…" Loki said, dusting himself down and heading towards the door. "She should be majestic in her flight, like a bird or a dragon, not tumbling through space and time out of control," he teased as the Doctor bounded up to the door beside him, scowling.

"Why does everyone insult my flying? It's really rude and mean," he said with a pout, he turned to pat the wall of the TARDIS. "You don't mind my flying, right girl?" he whispered. The TARDIS whistled and he smiled. "See, she doesn't mind!" he proclaimed to Loki, spinning back around to face the boy. Loki giggled and rolled his eyes.

"Of course not, she does not wish to hurt your feelings," he said poking his tongue out and bouncing out of the TARDIS as the Doctor started whining something along the lines of 'but that's just me-an.' Loki smiled happily as he looked around outside the TARDIS. They were in the middle of a forest and the trees where tall and clos together. He spotted a little path off to the left that ran off through the forest and a cliff face off to the right.

"You're right, Mad Man. This place is beautiful," he admitted with an awed smile as he looked up through the trees where the sun's rays filtered through the leaves. He heard footsteps behind him and spun, expecting to see the Mad Man, but instead he saw a man in gold coloured armour and a golden skull cap. The man's eyes glowed for moment and Loki took a step back only to find two men standing behind him, both wearing silver armour and silver helmets shaped like serpents with glowing red eyes. Both also held a staff weapon of some kind in each hand. "Uhm… h-hello," Loki stammered, something in the back of his mind telling him to run. "A-are you the Nox?" he asked, his entire body shaking. There was something about these men that chilled him to the bone.

"I am Apophis, your god and you will bow to me," the man in the gold said, his voice distorted. Loki raised an eyebrow. _You can't be the God of a God, unless you are the Allfather and my father is he_ , Loki thought to himself.

"I am afraid you are mistaken, sir. I am Loki Odinson, and I am a god and as such the only god I bow to is the Allfather and you are not he," Loki stated seriously, swallowing heavily when the man's eyes glowed once more and his left hand shot up. Loki noticed the golden device upon it and the little orb it held at the palm. _What is that?_  he wondered.

"You will bow, child, or you will die," the man's distorted voice spoke again and Loki shook his head and sighed.

"Thor doesn't like listening either, it's quite annoying actually. Don't be Thor, Thor is an idiot," Loki said almost nonchalant as he wondered where the Doctor was, he had been right behind Loki, hadn't he?

" _Rin nok!_  You will bow," The man said and the orb in the device started glowing red and a red light streamed from the orb and onto Loki's forehead. Loki shrieked in surprise as pain burned in his mind and he fell to his knees, gasping for breath through the pain.  _I am Apophis; I am your god. You will die with this knowledge and this knowledge alone,_ he heard a voice in his mind through the fog. Someone screamed and didn't stop. The burning in his mind increased and he felt unconsciousness tearing at him, but he did not sleep.  _I am your god, Apophis. Die now,_ he heard in his mind, but somewhere, far away, a voice screamed ' _LOKI! NO!_ ' before everything went dark.

The Doctor muttered to himself when Loki left. He fixed his jacket and his bowtie and then reached for the handle to leave, only to find the door locked. He frowned and tried to unlock it with his key. Failing that he tried using the sonic before scowling and looking around.

"C'mon, Sexy, I have to show Loki Gaia," he sighed to his ship She whistled at him and he frowned. "They can't be here, not now. The Nox buried the Stargate," he said confusion and disbelief in his voice. The TARDIS whistled at him again and he took a deep, scared breath in. "I know it's not safe, I know I can't let them catch me. I know. I know, just let me out. I have to get Loki," he pleaded with the TARDIS. She whistled and the Doctor shook his head, his eyes fearful and upset. "They will kill him! Please… please Girl, let me out!" the Doctor could feel the reluctance of the ship as the door unlocked itself and swung open. The Doctor breathed a thank you and ran from the ship. His legs nearly collapsed under him at the sight he was met with. "LOKI! NO!" he screamed, watching in shock as the little boy crumpled to the forest floor, his eyes looking lifelessly at the Doctor. The three men standing around the boy turned to look at the Doctor their eyes flashing. The Doctor glared at them as he walked around the one in gold to kneel beside Loki.

" _Kree tal shal mak!_ " the one in gold spoke with a distorted voice, ignoring the way the Doctor glared at him. The Doctor's breathing increased and his eyes seemed to darken but just as he was about to stand and face down Apophis, his vision swirled and he fell unconscious as he and Loki disappeared.

Loki awoke slowly, his body sluggish and his mind distracted. He moaned as a memory hit, a memory of pain and fear and words unspoken.  _I am Apophis; I am your god…_  Loki whimpered and tried to breathe, his thoughts beginning to race and his heart beginning to pound far too fast.  _Die now._ Loki curled into a ball and did not fight himself when the tears formed.

"Do not cry," a soft, calm, and clear voice said, Loki jumped and, ashamed though he was to admit it, shrieked in surprise. A young boy, near enough to Loki's age, stood before him in front of a curtain. He wore a shirt and pants made of a pink, grey, and blue fabric, his hair was wild and appeared to have branches and leaves growing in it, and his skin was a faint grey colour. "My name is Nafrayu of the Nox," he said smiling. Loki frowned at him for a moment before quickly scrubbing at his tears and clearing his throat.

"I am Loki of Asgard, I am of the Ӕsir," he gave a small smile and nod of greeting. "Where am I, Nafrayu?" he asked softly, sitting up and looking around the small room he was in and seeing the curtain was obviously the only way in and out. Loki took a moment to check himself over, noting no wounds but he did note that he was adorned in the same type of pink, blue-grey fabric the boy wore.  _Interesting, it's kind of comfortable,_  he thought to himself.

"This is where we dwell to live in harmony with the planet. You are safe here," Nafrayu stated and then looked behind him to the curtain. "I will retrieve your companion; he has been most worried about you," he said, nodding his head and leaving the hut. Loki blinked after him then sighed, he felt exhausted but, to contradict himself, he also felt alive and he did not know where this contradiction left him. A question tugged at the edges of his mind but he did not have time to dwell on it, however, as the curtain shifted and the Doctor walked in, immediately scanning him with the glowing stick he'd had at Hogwarts. Loki whimpered and curled into a ball; the light and the sound being far too soon a reminder of the glowing orb and the voice in his head. The Doctor frowned, looking at the stick before smiling and tucking it away in his pocket.

"You are 100% fine, well, and alive," he proclaimed with a big grin on his face. _I am your god, Apophis, die now._  Loki deigned not to reply. "And I'm sorry," the Doctor said after a moment, Loki looked up at him quickly and frowned. "I did not mean for that to happen, the Goa'uld aren't meant to be able to get here, especially not Apophis because the Nox buried the Stargate. Apparently they came in a ship this time and I'm sorry. The TARDIS wouldn't let me go." The words came out much too fast, and Loki watched the way the Doctor bounced back and forth on the balls of his feet.

"I do not blame you, Doctor. You could not have known the… Goa'uld, did you say? Would be here. It was a freak accident, they happen, we  _are_  on a foreign planet after all. Besides, I still get to meet the Nox, right? I mean, Nafrayu seems nice," Loki grins and the Doctor frowns at him before giving him a serious look. Loki didn't think it suited him.

"Loki, you just died. Not _almost_  died, you  _did_  die. You are allowed to be upset or angry at me and if… if you wish to return to Asgard, I will not blame you," he said quietly, seriously. Loki cocked his head to the side and raised an eyebrow.

"Mad Man, I just  _died_  and I have never felt more alive than I do right now. If you think I'm going to give that feeling up, allow myself to run away from it, to return to Asgard, to where  _everything's_  about Thor and how Thor is Odin's heir and how Thor will inherit everything and how I can't do _anything_ , then you are sorely mistaken. This is the most fun I have ever had, and yes, I died, Mad Man, but I'm alive again and I have no intentions of wasting this second chance by returning to the sham I call my home." Loki's eyes flashed a dangerous green and his tone brooked no argument.  _Wait a second; I died… how am I still alive?_  he thought to himself, before shaking his head and jumping to his feet beside the Doctor and smiling. "Come, I wish to meet the Nox." He said before walking out of the hut, the Doctor frowning after him.  _Loki Odinson, you are a very special child…_  he thought.

A beautiful young woman wearing a pink and greyish-blue fabric dress looked up from the plant she was watering as Loki exited the hut; she smiled kindly at him and nodded her head, putting the cup of water down. Loki stared in silent wonder at the branches and leaves in the woman's hair.

"How does your hair grow like that?" Loki asked after a moment, having had other things on his mind to think about when he'd met Nafrayu. The woman cocked her head to the side for a moment then nodded in realization.

"Oh you mean the leaves and the branches?" she asked, holding her hand up to her hair, "To live in harmony with the environment, one must become part of the environment," she said with a smile before looking at the Doctor who had followed Loki from the hut. "You will stay? The Elders wish your presence if you have time enough to see them," she queried and the Doctor frowned down at Loki then back at the woman.

"I do not know if I can stay this time, Lya," he admitted sighing heavily. Loki pouted and turned to look at the Doctor.

"Pretty please? I wish to stay… and learn," he pleaded, giving the Doctor the puppy dog eyes. The Doctor scowled at Loki.

"Why do they all do the look? Why do they all know the look? He's not even from Earth for Rassilon's sake…" he muttered. Lya grinned.

"He is young, Professor, and the 'look' transcends planetary barriers," she said looking affectionately at Loki. Loki grinned innocently at her then at the ground. The Doctor gave a put upon sigh.

"I suppose I can stay for a while. You may inform the Elders that I will go," he said to Lya. "In the meantime, Loki, I believe you two have not been formally introduced…" the Doctor cut off when Loki gasped and bowed his head to Lya who blinked in surprise.

"Forgive me, lady, I have been most rude. I am Loki of the Ӕsir of Asgard and son of Odin and Frigga. It is an honour to meet you," Loki said in his most regal voice. Lya smiled and shook her head, putting her hand under Loki's chin and carefully making him look up.

"There is no need to bow, Loki," she said kindly. "I am Lya of the Nox of Gaia and mother of Nafrayu and wife of Anteaus; it is a pleasure to meet you, young one." She nodded at him once then smiled and turned to look behind her. Loki was perplexed when she started speaking as there was no one there. "Anteaus, the Professor has agreed to stay and speak with the Elders. The young one has also awoken," Loki shrieked in surprise when a man appeared before Lya, his hair much the same as hers and his outfit made of the same pink, blue, and grey fabric. He looked at Lya and nodded.

"Good. Ohper and I had doubts that he would not wake, that perhaps we had not the ability to save him. I am glad he has awoken," he said to her before turning to look at Loki, he smiled and Loki admitted that the smile suited him. "Young one, I am Anteaus of the Nox, father of Nafrayu and husband of Lya, it is an honour to meet you," he nodded once to the boy. Loki smiled widely.

"I am Loki of the Ӕsir of Asgard and the son of Odin and Frigga; I am greatly honoured to meet you." He bowed his head and then his eyes lit up as something tugged at his mind. "How did you do that?" he blurted before he could stop himself. "The appearing thing, I mean… I did not sense your presence and when you appeared I felt no magic, and Mother says I've an unnatural perception to magic…" Loki heard himself rambling and scowled inwardly, clamping his mouth shut. Anteaus and Lya looked at each other for a moment before smiling and looking back at Loki.

"Ohper, I believe you have a new student," Lya said grinning. Loki shrieked as an elder man appeared right beside him with a type of pink berry in his hand, he wore much the same outfit as Anteaus and his hair was the same. Loki breathed in heavily and tried to calm his racing heart.

"Please give me warning before you do that," he gasped. "I nearly had a heart attack." The elder man just smiled at Loki.

"Do not worry, child, give it time and you will be able to sense us too," he said with a nod. Loki grinned and his eyes shone.

"Really?" he fought hard not to bounce with excitement, as he did, something else connected in his mind and he frowned. "How is it that I am alive? I remember dying…"  _I am Apophis…_  Loki shook the thought away as he looked between the Doctor, Ohper, Anteaus, and Lya. Ohper took Loki's hand.

"Come, there is much you need to learn," he said, gently pulling Loki after him into the trees, Loki found himself trying not to panic. _Die now…_

"But the men with the glowing eyes…" he protested as Ohper pulled him along. Ohper smiled and shook his head.

"We are hidden, child. You are safe," he said and Loki frowned but stopped protesting and did not turn back to the camp when Ohper let go of his hand. "You wish to learn about the Nox, yes?" he asked. Loki nodded enthusiastically and skipped along beside the man. "Then try these," he said, stopping and turning to Loki and taking his hand. He placed it palm up and then placed two of the berries onto it before popping one of the other berries into his mouth. Loki frowned at him but did as he was told and ate the berries. Loki blinked in surprise at the flavour and then he looked up at Ohper who was smiling at him.

"They taste… like apples…" he said after a moment then cocked his head in confusion. "They taste like apples but look like berries?" he asked, wondering what Ohper wanted him to understand from this. Ohper nodded and chewed on another 'apple berry'.

"Not everything is as it seems young one. What the eye tells you is not always necessarily what is correct," he said after a moment, offering Loki another of the berries. Loki took it and smiled.  _Don't judge a book by its cover, okay, so that's what the point was,_  he thought and Ohper nodded again. "I do indeed like that saying. Is it from your home?" he asked. Loki blinked and looked at him in awe, fear, and confusion.

"You can read my mind?" he asked after a moment. Ohper laughed and nodded his head slightly, turning to start walking along the path again.

"Well yes and no, Loki. I can hear your most immediate thoughts or the thoughts you yourself are conscious of at that moment but I cannot hear or sense anything else." Loki nodded as he walked alongside the man.

"Mother calls those 'surface thoughts,'" Loki said with a smile. Ohper stopped for a moment, listening to something Loki couldn't hear and then he frowned, pulling Loki away from the path. "What's wrong?" Loki asked as they walked through the bushes and the trees.

"The Goa'uld continue to search for you, child. I do not wish for you to see them, it would only bring you pain. Come Nafrayu," Ohper said, tugging Loki along behind him. Loki frowned and looked around.

"Nafrayu? Are you there?" he asked, trying not to stumble. It took all of his will not to scream when a hand grabbed hold of his own free one and squeezed.

"Yes," Nafrayu said as he became visible. Loki scowled.

"No, really, can you all stop doing that? Someday you're going to do that to someone and they're just going to die of fright and then what will you do?" he asked, forcing himself to breathe.

"Bring them back, of course," Both Nafrayu and Ohper said at the same time. Loki blinked.

"Wait…  _you_  brought me back to life? How?" he asked, shock evident in his voice. Nafrayu remained silent as Ohper thought over how to explain the Ritual to Loki.

"It is our way to help and heal. You were only recently dead when we found you, but it was difficult to help you as your body's own natural magic was fighting against ours. It took far longer than we thought it would. We wrongly assumed that it would not be too much different from when we helped Nafrayu, judging that you died in the same way he had, but we failed to take into account, indeed we did not know at the time, that you were so different from anything we'd encountered before and we feared we may have cured your body but been too late to save your mind. We healed you and you slept, and we despaired on whether you would wake again," Ohper said quietly, Loki was silent for a moment as he let the information sink in.  _How long was I asleep for?_  he wondered. "For three and a half days you reste,." Ohper said, stopping suddenly. Loki frowned and then shrugged.

"Could have been worse, I suppose…" he admitted more to himself than the Nox. "But how exactly did you bring me back?" he asked, Ohper approached a tree to their right and from it he picked a fairly long dark green leaf, longer than Ohper's arm. He walked back over to the boys, holding the leaf carefully in his hands.

"I do not know how to explain it in terms you will understand. The children of the Nox learn by observation and by the tug they feel in their hearts and their minds and, most importantly, from the voices of nature singing to them. You do not have this same tug and you cannot hear life's song on the intimate level that we can and I dearly hope there will be no cause for you to observe. I will try, however, to teach you the art of invisibility, but first you must become one with nature," he said, before carefully weaving the leaf through Loki's hair as Nafrayu picked another and also weaved that through Loki's hair. Loki used all of his self-control not to react or scowl at them as they did.

"How do I become one with nature?" Loki asked as Nafrayu continued to weave leaves into his hair, and Ohper collected a handful of thin branches and begun shaping them into a sort of half-crown. Loki felt the smallest sense of magic and he understood that Ohper was using magic to help the branches twist and form in the way he wanted them to.

"To become one with the nature around you, you must understand that life exists in all different kinds of forms, and that though some of these forms cannot speak, they still live," Ohper said, placing the 'crown' on Loki's forehead and, using a touch more of magic, let it entangle with Loki's hair so that it would stay on without needing to be held. Loki tried not to think about how long it would take to get all the leaves and branches out of his hair. Ohper let go of the 'crown' and Nafrayu stopped putting leaves through Loki's hair and they both stepped back and smiled. "Come," Ohper said, leading the boys further off into the woods.

They came to a small clearing and Ohper sat down in the middle of it and closed his eyes, Nafrayu sat beside him and closed his eyes as well. Loki shrugged and sat beside the other boy and let his eyes drift shut.

"Clear your mind, child, and you will hear nature sing," Ohper said quietly and Loki tried to obey.

He did not know how long they sat there, only that as time went on, he could hear more and more things moving or 'speaking' in the forest, and he felt calmer the longer they remained. Away to the east he could hear a river flowing speedily down its rocky path. To the west he could hear the sound of birds chirping and woodland animals dashing this way and that. To the north he could hear the sound of branches creaking, leaves swaying and the wind howling. To the south, he could hear… the sound of trampling feet and a distorted voice.

"Find me the box, the child, or the fool. We'll find the ship later," it said.  _I am Apophis, I am you god._  Loki whimpered and clenched his hands into fists, so hard he could feel his nails cutting his skin, and kept his eyes shut tight. He felt something change about him but didn't dare move.

"You are a very gifted child, Loki of Asgard. Not many can succeed in becoming half invisible on their first try. But come, it will be dark soon and we must be back to the camp by nightfall." Loki heard Ohper's voice and opened his eyes, unclenching his hands and looking up at the man and the other little boy. He nodded and pushed himself up onto his feet.

"That was fascinating, Ohper. I thank you for teaching me that and beg you to teach me more things," he said as they headed back to camp. Ohper smiled.

"Knowledge, Loki, takes time and over the years, we teach the young to be wise," he said with a nod. Loki assumed that meant that yes, Ohper would teach him many more things about the Nox and how to be 'wise' as they were. Loki found he couldn't wait.


	4. Quaesitum Future

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First half written by Mycroft and second half written by Arya

They remained on Gaia for three days after Loki awoke. The Doctor spent at least 7 hours each day with the Nox in their city while Loki spent as many hours as he could with Ohper and Nafrayu, learning the way of the Nox. Nafrayu would sleep at Loki's side at night, his hand squeezing Loki's tight; the touch was enough to drive the sound of Apophis' voice from his mind when he closed his eyes. Loki had been embarrassed the first morning, when he had awoken to find himself clutching so tightly to Nafrayu's hand, but Nafrayu had reminded him that he knew what Loki was going through and Loki had thanked Nafrayu in the end.

Loki was sitting up in a tree with Nafrayu, discussing the universe and the meaning of life, when the Doctor found him.

"Little Prince, it's time for us to go," he called. Loki pouted but dropped gracefully from the tree all the same, Nafrayu following after him.

"We're coming back, though, right?" Loki asked, giving the Doctor a hopeful smile, the Doctor gave a put upon sigh.

"I suppose we can come back for a visit, yes," he said after a moment, Loki cheered happily and hugged the Doctor.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," he chanted, a giant smile on his face, the Doctor shook his head with a grin.

"C'mon, we best be off…" he said, watching as the three adult Nox appeared before them.

"You are always welcome here, Professor and you, Loki," Lya said, bowing her head. The Doctor smiled and nodded back at her, Loki tried not to bounce with excitement.

"My thanks, Lya." The Doctor said, watching Loki bubbling with joy. "And apparently Loki's quite thankful as well…" he stated with a smirk. Loki gave him a small glare before facing the Nox.

"I thank you from the depths of my heart for reviving me and for teaching me your ways. I would that there was a way to repay your kindness…" Loki said formally, a frown marring his face. Anteaus smiled and shook his head.

"That you were willing to learn our ways is all the thanks we require, young one," he admitted, Loki grinned and bowed his head.

"I will not forget all that you have taught me," he said determinedly. He turned to Nafrayu and smiled. "I wish I could remain here with you, not-brother, but the universe is taking me on a different journey," he said sadly, he had quite enjoyed all the time spent with his Nox friend and was sad to have to leave him behind.

"We will be meeting again, Loki of Asgard, and you will tell me of all the wonder the universe holds. Until then, I wish you well," Nafrayu said with a smile, Loki shook his head and pulled the young Nox in for a hug; Nafrayu laughed and returned the embrace.

"Your hair is ticklish." Loki's voice was muffled but the others laughed when they heard it anyway, Loki feigned innocence even though his face was concealed.

"C'mon, Loki, places to go, things to see," The Doctor said and Loki pulled away from Nafrayu and smiled.

"I know, I know," he said, heading off towards where the TARDIS was hidden just on the edge of the camp. The Doctor smiled at the Nox.

"Until next time," he bowed his head before heading after Loki.

"So! Where are we off to next?" Loki asked the moment the door shut behind the Doctor, the Doctor frowned and looked at the Asgardian.

"Well I was thinking we could hang around the TARDIS for a little while. I don't think I've shown you the Library yet… it's a swimming pool with a Library in it… or well a library with a swimming pool in it… either way, I suppose it doesn't really matter which way you look at it..." The Doctor said, bouncing up the stairs to the console. Loki frowned at the Doctor but decided that the library might hold something of interest to him.

"Show me the way, oh alien one," he said with a mock bow of worship, the Doctor laughed and bounced off up another set of stairs heading deeper into the TARDIS, Loki on his heels.

Loki gave up trying to remember his way back after they went through the fifth corridor off the seventh hall through the fourth door on the left of the sixth arch on the right from the console room. He was sure he went through at least fifteen more corridors, seven more doors, eighteen archways and eleven halls before they reached the door they were looking for. That was when Loki learned that the Doctor hadn't been kidding about the swimming pool being in the library or the library being in the swimming pool. They opened the door and the Doctor shouted 'Aha!' before they were bowled back down the corridor by a great wave of water, coughing and spluttering.

"In hindsight, I should have expected that… I really should have expected that…" the soaked Doctor said to a very sopping wet Loki who glared daggers at him through his dripping hair.

"'I should have expected that, I should have expected that,'" Loki mocked in a voice very much like the Doctor's, if he thought about it.

"There's no need to be mean," The Doctor said with a pout as he pulled himself to his feet, Loki scowled at him.

"Well, you could have warned me about this at least, these are my Nox-made clothes... they are my favourites and now they're all wet, as am I," he sighed. "Though, I can always just do this..." snapping his fingers Loki and the Doctor instantly became dry, Loki smirked. "Tada..." he exclaimed, the Doctor laughed and shook his head.

"Now that has to be cheating…" he said walking back towards the now closed door. He whispered something to the TARDIS and she whistled back before the door swung open, to reveal what looked like an endless library. The Doctor smiled at the awestruck Loki who had just appeared at his side. "Welcome, Loki, to the most in depth and up to date library in all of existence. A few rules before we go in." he said, as Loki was about to step through the door. The Asgardian paused but did not turn to look at the Doctor. "The library changes to suit the companions I have with me, in saying that I must ask that where the lights are turned off or the doors are locked you do not try to go through, they are spoilers or information that you won't ever have the classification to read. Can you do this, Loki? Stay away from them?" he asked. Loki frowned and this time did turn to look at his friend. It was the most serious Loki had seen him since meeting him and he was slightly scared about what that meant.

"You have my word that I will not go where the lights are turned off or the doors are locked." He said, placing his hand over his heart and taking a bow. The Doctor nodded and seemed to relax.

"Good. Then have at it," he said, nudging Loki through the door before he himself disappeared.

"You are a very strange soul, Mad Man," Loki said to no one but the TARDIS, who whistled almost amusedly. Loki smiled before heading to the sign just ahead of him that gave a basic overview of the library.

**Floor G: Direction, Information and Children's stories**

**Floors 1-300: History of Earth from year 1 to year 5000000000**

**Floors 301-700: History of the Aesir, from Creation to Destruction**

**Floors 701-1000: History of the Vanir, from Creation to Destruction**

**Floors 1001-2000: Life and Death of Goddess Hela**

**Floors 2001-3000: Life and Death of Fenris Wolf**

**Floors 3001-4000: Life and Death of the World Serpent Jörmungandr**

**Floors 4001-5000: Life and Death of Vali and Villi**

**Floors 5001-6500: Life and Death of Sleipnir**

**Floors 6501-11000: Life and Death of King Thor Odinson**

**Floors 11001-12000: Life and Death of King Loki Liesmith**

Loki paused as he read Thor's name and then his own.  _King? King Loki? King?_ His mind whirled with the words and he felt sick.  _To be king would mean both Odin and Thor were dead… to be king would mean I was in the spot light… but… Thor and Odin would be dead…_ Loki struggled to breathe around the lump that was forming in his throat. There was a sudden burst of cool air and when Loki looked up at the sign again it had changed, as had the layout of the room he was in.

**Floor G: Direction, Information and Children's Stories**

**Floors 1-600: Known History of the Nox**

**Floors 601-1500: History of the Asgard of the Othala and Orilla Galaxies**

**Floors 1501-2054: History of the Vanir Asgard of the Pegasus Galaxy**

**Floors 2055-4000: History of the Alterans of Celestis**

**Floors 4001-6000: History of the Alterans of Dakara**

**Floors 6001-9000: History of the Alterans of Terra**

**Floors 9001-13000: History of the Alterans of Lantea**

**Floors 13001-29000: History of the Alterans of the Higher Planes**

**Floors 29001-29300: History of Pre Human and Post Human Midgard**

**Floors 29301-39000: History of Magic Use on Midgard**

The sign seemed to go on forever and as Loki read through the floors the lump in his throat cleared and he took steady breaths, calming his pounding heart. _Perhaps I imagined it…_ he thought to himself as he tried to understand what all the unfamiliar words and names meant. After a while he decided to head up to the next level to read up on the Nox as he had plenty of things to read and it would seem that he had all the time he could possibly want to read them in.  _I need to get myself a library like this one day…_ He thought as he headed up the stairs.

It was hours later the Doctor went to check on Loki. He found him on four hundred an fifty-third floor, curled up, asleep in one of the reading chairs with a book on his lap and several more stacked on a table near the chair. He picked up the books on the table and glanced at the top one, entitled  _The Discovery of the Stargate on Gaia._ Ah, so this was the floor on the Nox. He hadn't checked what how the TARDIS had changed the library floors when he had come in, and had just checked to see which floor Loki was on. He placed the stack of books on an empty shelf - the TARDIS would re-shelve them when she reorganized the library - before removing the book from Loki's lap and placing it on top of the stack.

Moving back to Loki's sleeping place, he picked up the God of Mischief being careful to try not to wake him, though he doubted that was possible considering that he seemed to be sleeping like the dead. As he descended the stairs to the main floor of the library there came a whisper from the TARDIS that an extra room had been created across the hall from the library for Loki to stay in. Ah, his TARDIS, always thinking of everything, even when he didn't. The Doctor crossed the hall and nudged the door open with his foot. The room was as most of his companions' rooms were, made specifically for that person. In this case, it was a room with dark green walls (which in the Doctor's opinion were too dark even if they did fit the Asgardian prince). A bed with green and gold covers sat in one corner while a huge bookshelf, complete with several magic books and many tales from Earth, spanned the wall across from it. The Doctor immediately made a mental note to check to make sure the TARDIS had included all seven  _Harry Potter_  books in the collection before he left the room.  _There's no point having a bookshelf if it doesn't have Harry Potter on it._

He placed Loki on the bed and pulled the duvet over him, trying not to think of what he knew Loki would become. It was hard not to question how the god - no, the Doctor corrected himself -the _child_ curled up on the bed before him could become the person that would try to take over the Earth multiple times. The Doctor sighed and walked over to the bookshelf, scanning the books until he found the set of  _Harry Potter_  books, smiling when he saw that there was also  _The_   _Tales of Beedle the Bard_ ,  _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_ , and  _Quidditch Through the Ages_  next to the series. He was turning away from the bookshelf to leave the room when another book caught his eye. Leaning down, he pulled out a book entitled  _Norse Myths._ He flipped to the Table of Contents.  _Maybe she chose one that doesn't include the tales about Loki and Thor._ He scanned the contents briefly before sighing and glaring at the wall of the TARDIS. "No."

Searching through the bookshelf, he found two more books covering Norse mythology and pulled them out before leaving the room. The TARDIS wasn't usually so rebellious like this and she out of anybody should know the dangers of people knowing their fate before it came about. For some people it wasn't quite so bad that they knew how their lives were going to turn out - there had certainly been a few people who had accidentally run across something such as what year they would die in - but for Loki, the God of Mischief to discover who he was, what he was, and what he would do... that couldn't exactly yield good results.

Loki awoke in what was probably the softest bed he had slept in since he left Asgard. Not that sleeping in soft beds really mattered  _that_ much to him, and he had had a wonderful time with the Nox, but it still was something you do notice. Sitting up, he found himself in a darkened room, but the moment he started to push aside the covers, the room lit up fully, illuminating dark green walls, nearly the same color as the ones in his room back home, and a bookshelf. He sat in confusion for a moment, wondering for how he had managed to be transferred from the four hundred and fifty-third floor of the library to a bedroom before his brain dragged itself from its sleep.

Hopping off the bed, Loki walked over to the door and opened it, poking his head out. The room he was in was off a hallway, the same hallway that the library was in (assuming of course that there wasn't another door that was he same as the library door). The Doctor was nowhere to be found, at least in that hallway, so Loki assumed that he had returned to the console room. He then remembered how the library's guide had been different when he had first opened the door to it.  _I wonder if it changed again..._ Looking around quickly, Loki scampered out of the room to the door across the hall and turned the knob. The door was locked.

"Mad Man..." Loki muttered, glaring at the door.

* _"I must ask that where the lights are turned off or the doors are locked you do not try to go through."_

Loki continued glaring at the door as if it would just magically unlock itself.  _Well, I could magically unlock it..._ Loki pondered this idea for a moment before discarding it. The Doctor would not be pleased if he directly broke a promise he had made to him.  _But maybe just a peek. A peek couldn't do any harm._ Muttering a quick spell, Loki held his hand over the lock and the door clicked open. He slowly pushed it open, fearing that it would creak and the Doctor would hear. The library was dark now so he quickly made a ball of light that floated above his hand, illuminating the main floor. He spotted the guide to the library floors and ran over to it, holding up his ball of light so he could see it. It had changed back to what it had been when Loki had first entered the library. He looked to the bottom of the list to where it showed which floors the books on his and Thor's life and death were on.  _6,501 to 12,000..._ Taking one last look at the guide, he ran over to the stairs, heading for the six thousand five hundred and first floor.

"Loki?" the Doctor poked his head around the open door to Loki's new room. He had come to see if the Asgardian Prince has awoken yet and ask him where he would like to go next when he noticed that the door to his room was open. A quick look around (and the rumbled sheets) told him that the trickster had evidently woken up and left the room.

"Why didn't you tell me he had left, Sexy?" the Doctor asked, stroking one of the walls. "You usually tell me if something happens to one of my companions..." The Doctor trailed off. "Wait... no..."

Spinning around, he tried the door of the library on the other side of the hall and to his dismay, it swung open at his touch. The lights flickered on as he entered, immediately illuminating the guide which was still on Asgard's history.

"No, no, no, no... not good, not good at all..." the Doctor muttered, dashing for the stairs. "Why did I make this library so big again?"

When he finally skidded to a halt on the six thousand five hundred and second floor (he had already checked the six thousand five hundred and first floor), he found Loki leaning against one of the shelves about to start reading from a book he had found.

"Loki, no!" he shouted, running forward and snatching the book as Loki nearly dropped it in surprise. "No," he said again, shoving the book into a shelf and turning back to his companion. "I told you that you can't come in here if the doors are locked."

"But why?" Loki asked, crossing his arms and glaring at the Doctor. "Why can't I read about what happens to my people?"

"There are some things that you can't know. There are some thing, that if you know, can destroy fixed points in time and can destroy the entire universe."

"I'm taking you home," the Doctor said, jabbing a few buttons on his console.

"But Mad Man-" Loki protested.

"No, you broke the rules, Loki. You promised me that you wouldn't look. I can't have you constantly trying to find out what happens in your future."

"I won't do it again, I swear I won't! I just saw that it said on the guide that I was  _King_ Loki and I wanted to know why because if I'm king that means that Thor and Father must have died..." Loki, for the first time in his memory, babbled.

The Doctor sighed, looking down at the TARDIS console. "No, Loki, you are going home. Your parents and brother will miss you."

"They don't care! And this is a time machine! You could just put me back at the exact time that you took me with you!"

"How about I-"

The TARDIS suddenly gave a almighty jerk, throwing both Loki and the Doctor across the console room.

"That's... not normal," the Doctor muttered picking himself off the floor only for the TARDIS to jerk again, sending them flying toward the other side of the console room. "Damn it!" The Doctor picked himself up off the floor again and extended a hand to help Loki up. He pulled out his sonic screwdriver and activated it, hoping that it would tell him what the problem was.

"What is it, Mad Man?" Loki asked, forgetting about his anger towards the man for the moment.

"It's... almost as if we're being pulled through the time vortex by something..." The Doctor said, staring at his buzzing screwdriver. "It's not-"

The TARDIS jerked once more before seeming to forget about what was up and what was down completely. The Doctor pulled himself to the console, clinging to it so he wouldn't be tossed around the TARDIS again, and started to jiggle a few parts and poke a few buttons. "No, no... we're in free fall... why are we in free fall?" He pulled his screwdriver out again and pointed it at the console, but the TARDIS continued to tumble.

"What's happening?" Loki called from where he had used magic to stick himself to the floor.

"We're falling," the Doctor said through gritted teeth, still poking at the console. "Damn, damn, damn..."

"But how can we be-"

"I don't know," the Doctor cut him off. "We're going to impact whatever planet we're headed towards in just a minute though... Unstick yourself from the floor and grab onto something. If we crash with your feet glued to the floor, you're likely to break your ankles."

Loki blinked, not having thought of that, and whispered a spell before running over to one of the railings that stood around the console room.

"How will we get back if she crashes?" he asked as the Doctor joined him at the railing, having given up on being able to stop their fall.

"Depends upon how bad the damage is. I crashed into somebody's shed once and had her up and running within an hour," the Doctor said shrugging slightly. He paused for a second. "We're going to hit soon... in just a few seconds..."

* * *

 

In the middle of a green glade, a woman watched in slight awe and horror as a rectangular, blue object plummeted out of the sky.


End file.
